Shimla/Mandi: The ongoing digging work for four-laning of Chandigarh-Shimla national highway and monsoon rains have triggered landslides at several points, making commuting difficult and dangerous on those stretches. With debris and huge rocks falling on the road and barriers built to prevent accidents displaced, there is a constant threat to the lives of commuters.
On July 2, vacation of a family from Nangal had turned tragic when a landslide at Shamleck area of Solan had crushed 40-year-old Subhash Saini to death. His wife and eight-year-old daughter too had received serious injuries.
On Sunday evening, two friends were traumatised while travelling to Shimla from Delhi by car. "When I was driving, heavy rainfall on Parwanoo-Dharampur stretch had made the visibility too low and suddenly we heard a blast like noise of debris falling. It could have hurt us if we were any closer to that point where it fell," said Ayush Sharma.
Another commuter, Praveen Gautam said while travelling to Shimla on Sunday night, near Sanwara, he saw that the barriers erected at roadside to prevent rocks and debris from falling on road did not seem strong enough to bear the weight of large rocks. "Debris on the road leaves very little space on road for the car to pass with the worry of collapsing down from hill," he added.
Solan deputy commissioner Rakesh Kanwar said that people can contact him in case of problems at specific points. He said that almost every day, they are fixing meetings with National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the construction company instructing them to ensure safety of travellers.
"But we don't have enough police force to deploy at all required spots. I had demanded from HP police headquarters to provide us at least four clusters of police forces. Due to apple season, problem has doubled due to increase in vehicular traffic including big trucks," he alleged.
When TOI tried contacting NHAI project director's office landline number, no one was responding putting calls on Fax or busy tone.
Due to heavy rainfall, the landslide occurred on the highway near Shoghi last year. "Debris is continuously falling on that point," Shimla resident Sita Thakur added.
A massive landslide smashed a truck, leaving two occupants seriously injured, after debris from a landlside blocked Kiratpur-Manali NH near Hanogi, about 30 kms from Mandi late Sunday night. Traffic on the highway remained blocked for over 12 hours while hundreds of vehicles were stranded till Monday morning.
The highway was cleared at 10.15am on Monday.
Gyan Chand and Netra Singh, both residents of Mandi, had a miraculous escape but the truck was badly crushed by boulders, which started sliding after heavy downpour on Sunday evening.
Public works department (national highway) executive engineer Raujif Sheikh said debris fell on the highway at about 9.30pm but it was too risky for them to clear it as boulders continued falling. "We made several failed attempts. It was very difficult and risky. We worked till 1.30am. Later we stopped attempting and then resumed work early morning and cleared highway for traffic. It is all new sliding zone near Hanogi temple," he said.
On July 2, vacation of a family from Nangal had turned tragic when a landslide at Shamleck area of Solan had crushed 40-year-old Subhash Saini to death. His wife and eight-year-old daughter too had received serious injuries.
On Sunday evening, two friends were traumatised while travelling to Shimla from Delhi by car. "When I was driving, heavy rainfall on Parwanoo-Dharampur stretch had made the visibility too low and suddenly we heard a blast like noise of debris falling. It could have hurt us if we were any closer to that point where it fell," said Ayush Sharma.
Another commuter, Praveen Gautam said while travelling to Shimla on Sunday night, near Sanwara, he saw that the barriers erected at roadside to prevent rocks and debris from falling on road did not seem strong enough to bear the weight of large rocks. "Debris on the road leaves very little space on road for the car to pass with the worry of collapsing down from hill," he added.
Solan deputy commissioner Rakesh Kanwar said that people can contact him in case of problems at specific points. He said that almost every day, they are fixing meetings with National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the construction company instructing them to ensure safety of travellers.
"But we don't have enough police force to deploy at all required spots. I had demanded from HP police headquarters to provide us at least four clusters of police forces. Due to apple season, problem has doubled due to increase in vehicular traffic including big trucks," he alleged.
When TOI tried contacting NHAI project director's office landline number, no one was responding putting calls on Fax or busy tone.
Due to heavy rainfall, the landslide occurred on the highway near Shoghi last year. "Debris is continuously falling on that point," Shimla resident Sita Thakur added.
A massive landslide smashed a truck, leaving two occupants seriously injured, after debris from a landlside blocked Kiratpur-Manali NH near Hanogi, about 30 kms from Mandi late Sunday night. Traffic on the highway remained blocked for over 12 hours while hundreds of vehicles were stranded till Monday morning.
The highway was cleared at 10.15am on Monday.
Gyan Chand and Netra Singh, both residents of Mandi, had a miraculous escape but the truck was badly crushed by boulders, which started sliding after heavy downpour on Sunday evening.
Public works department (national highway) executive engineer Raujif Sheikh said debris fell on the highway at about 9.30pm but it was too risky for them to clear it as boulders continued falling. "We made several failed attempts. It was very difficult and risky. We worked till 1.30am. Later we stopped attempting and then resumed work early morning and cleared highway for traffic. It is all new sliding zone near Hanogi temple," he said.